Fulbright Scholar to Take Part in Research Exchange Programme

Jamaica’s Fulbright Scholar for 2012-2013, Tracy-Ann Hyman, is among 21 other Fulbright scholarship recipients from the Western Hemisphere, Latin America and the Caribbean to participate in a two-month research exchange programme at the University of North Carolina in the United States of America.

The Fulbright Regional Network for Applied Research (NEXUS) Programme brings together a network of junior scholars, professionals and mid-career applied researchers for a series of three seminar meetings and a Fulbright exchange experience.

Speaking at a reception in honour of the Fulbright Scholarship Awardees by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State, at the Mexican Cultural Institute on September 18, Chief of Western Hemisphere Fulbright Programme, Dr. Eugenia Verdagure said that at its core, “the Fulbright NEXUS Programme will foster collaborative and multi-disciplinary research to address challenging regional issues and produce tangible results.”

She said the Fulbright NEXUS Programme provides a platform for scholars from across the region to engage in collaborative thinking, analysis, problem-solving and multi-disciplinary research in one of three inter-related topics.

Dr. Verdagure noted that at the end of the programme year, NEXUS scholars would convene for the third and final meeting in Washington, D.C., to share the results of their collaborative interactions and report on the accomplishment of programme objectives and the national and regional implications of their findings.

Scholars will disseminate policy-relevant recommendations, describe the concrete steps they have taken in implementing their projects and models at the local, national and/or regional levels, and share the progress they have made and challenges they have faced in moving their recommendations from theory to practice.

Meanwhile,  Miss Hyman pointed out that she will be presenting a research paper on the results from a one-year project on Community Emergency Management for Coastal Communities.  She added that the Nexus Programme would allow for collaboration with diverse scientists in various fields and that such interactions would enable her to share lessons learned in a Jamaican context that can be applied globally.

The Fulbright Programme is the flagship international educational exchange programme sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”

The educational exchange was proposed to the U.S. Congress in 1945 by then freshman, Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. In the aftermath of World War II, Senator Fulbright viewed the proposed programme as a much needed vehicle for promoting “mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world.”

His vision was approved by Congress and the programme signed into law by President Truman in 1946.

The Fulbright Programme is sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, under a co-operative agreement with the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.